The Road Not Taken
by PrincessArien
Summary: Whilst drifting through time the Phoenix Gate attains sentience and determines to change the past. Through its actions Demona chooses to face the Vikings with the other survivors and is likewise put to sleep by the Magus...only to awaken in modern Manhatten 1,000 years later...leading the whole world onto a different path...a different fate...
1. Rebirth

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the series Gargoyles, it is the property of Disney and Greg Weissman.

**Authors Note:** _While I am no stranger to fanfiction, this is my first forray into the world of Gargoyles, so any constructive criticism will be very much appreciated, especially in making the characters feel distinct and like they do on the show. I'm always willing to hear suggestions on anything, whether they'll actually be something I'll use or not, so any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Something I could use suggestions on right now would be on finding a new name for Demona, or a reason for her to choose that name in the future once they've all re-awakened in 1994. In future all further author's notes will be appearing at the bottom of the chapters as opposed to the top, that way if you don't want to be bothered with them they're far easier to ignore if you so choose to do so :)_

_And I profusely apologize in advance for any times the story might be delayed, unfortunately my writing process is a very slow one, so it may take a while with future updates, though currently I already have the second chapter of this written, just needs uploading. Of one thing you can always be sure though...I will never, ever, ever abandon any of my fanfics, no matter how long it might take to get back to them, barring unforeseen complications that physically keep me from writing...no fanfiction of mine will ever be prematurely ended or abandoned, on that you have my word._

Chapter I

Rebirth

The space filling the gap between time and space howled around the small, shield shaped object known as the Phoenix Gate as it tumbled and was slapped about by the swirling energies of the vortex. It had drifted, uncontrolled and unguided through this space none knew how long, ever since the Gargoyle known as Goliath had hurled it into the time-stream after nearly being tricked into handing it over to the member of the Third Race known as Puck. Time had no meaning here, no existence…there simply, was.

And here the Phoenix Gate had been since, but now, things were changing, the very laws of reality. Never before had the Gate been thrust into the void between times and space without guidance, without a being to control and direct its flow and power; and that had changed everything, the Phoenix Gate had come to possess a mind of its own…the residual energies and thoughts left over from the time of its forging on Avalon. Now, it could do anything, change any point in time it wished, direct the universe onto a whole new course with a single act. This freedom however, came at a price, the Gate was slowly burning itself out, soon it would be completely destroyed, consumed by its own powers and energies and those of the vortex of time swirling around it. What did one do with the power to rewrite history, what would one change? Should one act at all? The only way to know for sure was to peer into the time-stream from the very beginning of the world to its inevitable end, see what the fate of the world would come to be through the course of events the currently unchanged path had set.

The years flew by in a blur, to any mere mortal being attempting to view the same thing, it would have been all but incomprehensible. But for the Phoenix, as it had come to view itself for through its own death time's path and the very fate of the world would be reborn much like the mythic phoenix in human beliefs was perpetually reborn from its own ashes, it was perfectly understandable. The being watched as time ran its course, empires rising and then crumbling, civilizations and people being birthed and dying…any other being would have gone mad from attempting to contain it all. The focus of the Phoenix grew more intense as it came upon the time when the Gargoyle known as Goliath had been born into the world…it felt drawn to this particular clan, a burning desire and almost a compulsion to see their fates resolves.

This feeling, it knew that its purpose was to be fulfilled somewhere within the morass of the Wyvern Clan's line within the time-stream, somewhere along that line it was to insert itself and change the fate of the whole world. Out of the whole clan within the whole of their entire existence, past, present, and future, the Phoenix found itself being drawn into focus on one particular female. A blue-skinned Gargoyle with a wild shock of red hair…the one who would come to be known in the future as Demona, what could its purpose possibly be with her? Time and again her schemes for the destruction of humanity were thwarted by her former clan after she had been disowned and disavowed by them, there had to be something that drew the being to this particular clan of Gargoyles out of all beings that had ever lived and this one female in particular.

Focusing its energies and zeroing its attention in on her, the Phoenix began to watch Demona's story unfold. How her betrayal of her clan led to its destruction at the hands of the Vikings, how her betrayal of the Scottish king Macbeth led to destruction of her clan once more, her growing hatred of humanity and determination to wipe them from the face of the earth, and the Gargoyle's refusal to learn from every single one of her many mistakes leading to her own suffering. What could there possibly be to change there, if ever there was a lost cause, the Phoenix knew that Demona would be the poster child for it…but nevertheless, everyone, even the most hopeless seeming of causes deserved a chance of renewal. But why would it be drawn to her? Turning from its thoughts the being returned to gazing at Demona's lifetime, until it came to the year 1996 and the aftermath of the incident on the Hunter's Moon with rediscovery of the Gargoyle species by humanity. Instantly the Phoenix knew that this was what it had been born to avert, but the question was why. It watched the rise of the Quarrymen led by one of the former Hunters and their efforts to bring down the survivors of the Wyvern Clan, how they ultimately turned the majority of the public against the Gargoyles and as their efforts led to humanity hunting the Gargoyles down…Goliath's clan being some of the first to go. Demona's own self-destructive hate and her current path that was set on would inevitably lead to the very destruction of her whole entire species, until she alone remained, a bitter, battered, broken, and hollow shell of her former self.

The Phoenix knew what it must do, somehow it must alter the destiny of this one Gargoyle and guide her onto a different path. Its time was almost up, there were very few options where it could insert itself into this Gargoyle's lifespan and save her from herself. There was only one option available where it could act…the night before the Wyvern Massacre and the destruction of Demona's clan. It would be too late to save her clan, but if she herself could be saved from her own self-destruction, then perhaps the future would be better place It couldn't force her into anything, but it could plant the seeds and hope that they would come to fruition. Mustering its energies one final time, the Phoenix Gate let loose a blast of its power and tore a hole in this dimension it had been trapped in so long and forced its way out into the timeline once more, the year 994 AD.

* * *

The second watched sadly and longingly as Goliath, the clan's leader and her mate flew off into the night with the clan's mentor and their old leader. This was not the way it was supposed to be! She snarled and her eyes glowed crimson with rage, the plan was failing, the whole of the clan was supposed to be out pursuing the decoy force of the Vikings so that the Viking chieftain Hakon and his men could remove the people of Castle Wyvern unopposed and the clan could reclaim their rightful, ancestral home. The humans had no place here, they hated her kind, they couldn't be trusted with keeping them safe, _especially_ not that brat of a princess.

The second in command smashed her fist against the battlements in her fury…she thought back to that year when those people had come from the future, among them a future version of herself and Goliath…she had to keep that future she had been shown from coming to pass! She couldn't let her clan be destroyed and her love and the remaining few survivors frozen in stone, there _had_ to be some way. She sighed wistfully, wishing that she had never torn the Phoenix Gate in two and given the other half to Goliath, with the Gate she would have the power to save her people, but she had foolishly given half of it away, and now she had to make do. The captain of the guard had sworn that he would look after her clan during that coming day, but she didn't trust him, he had ever been a staunch friend to the Gargoyles, and she had no doubt that he would _try_ to keep his word to her, but what could one man do against a whole armed force? No, her people's future and continued survival rested in her own hands.

The Gargoyle was broken from her reverie as a small twinkle off over the battlements and outside the castle caught her eye. At first she thought that it might have been Hakon and the Vikings moving into position to attack the castle come dawn that morning, but no, it was something else…something vaguely familiar, and it was in the wrong place to be the Vikings, it hung low above the cliffs down by the sea. She squinted her eyes and peered intently out into the darkness, the glow was beginning to flare brighter and grow in size. It could be nothing other than magic.

"What is going on here," she wondered quietly, the second let out a gasp as she suddenly figured out what it was. It was unmistakable; it could be nothing other than someone arriving via the Phoenix Gate. Jumping from the wall she soared through the air eagerly toward where she knew whoever it was would be appearing, perhaps if she could manage to steal it from this traveler, whoever it may be, then she could use it to ensure her clan's safety! She deftly folded her wings and dove toward the ground in a steep dive, snapping them open at the last few seconds and landing heavily on the ground. The glow had reach its peak now and the orb of light and heat that surrounded the user of the gate had appeared, but there was something different. Something had changed since she had last seen the gate used. The fire and heat vanished just as suddenly as they appeared and the Gate clattered to the ground. She had not expected that, somehow, the Phoenix Gate had wound up here all on its own! The second stooped down and gingerly scooped up the metal object. It looked the same as ever, gold phoenix laid over a blue background and outlined in the gold around the edges that it had been constructed from. Though it looked just as it had when last she had laid eyes on it, there was something different about that she couldn't put her finger on…it suddenly grew hot within her hands and she dropped it with a small cry of pain as it burned her hands. The magical artifact never touched the ground, it remained floating at the height she had dropped it at, and seemingly coming out from it was a being seemingly made of fire and wreathed in black smoke, the being bore a vague semblance to a phoenix.

"Demona of clan Wyvern?" its voice was scarcely above a hoarse whisper, it spoke as one that had existed millennia. Why would it name here, like all of her Rookery brothers and sisters she had no name, such had been the Gargoyle way since time immemorial. It was true that her mate had been given a name, but that was one bestowed by the humans and did not truly apply amongst the clan, though some might call him that on occasion, like all the rest though, he had no name.

"I am of clan that dwells within Wyvern, spirit," she replied, "But I have no name, I am not this "Demona" of which you speak, you must seek elsewhere for this individual, for I am not she. What is your purpose here, are you, perchance one of Third Race, Oberon's Children?" Her eyes narrowed as she studied it, every muscle in her body tensing, preparing itself for fighting or fleeing from this strange creature. She could feel the magic and energy roiling from it, this being was one of the most powerful she had ever seen.

"Nay," it replied, "I am the spirit of the artifact that has come to be known as the Phoenix Gate, I am the Phoenix, time is at my beck and call and under my dominion, I have come seeking you, you are indeed the one I seek. Though your name may not be Demona in this day and age, there would have been time in the future when you would have been called such…I seek to avoid that same path occurring once again. My time grows short, I have not long left, and I will see this future I have observed changed, you, and this moment are the keys. The world will be reborn from my ashes and my sacrifice this night."

Before she could even react the Phoenix, as it had called itself had seized her and placed its hands on her temples. The second's eyes rolled back into her head as the visions began flooding through her mind…her own life playing out right before her! She saw herself becoming that twisted and vengeful creature wearing her form that had come through time almost 30 years ago. _'No, how could I become that,'_ she howled as she thrashed in the Phoenix's grip, _'I would never do such things, never. I will not be _her_!'_ All of her long and bitter years stretched before her eyes, how could any of this have happened, how could anyone become so twisted and maimed in their very soul itself? She saw her many clans that she had tried to form and protect over the years slowly die off, even the few survivors of her own clan when they reawakened 1,000 years later, even her own daughter, until she was all that remained of her once proud race, her own deeds had wound up killing them all…finally, just when she thought she would be driven mad, the grip of the Phoenix slacked, and she found herself collapsing to the ground in sobs, she couldn't let any of this happen, it had to be changed, stopped, there had to be something that could be done.

"Do something, please," she heard herself pleading, "I will do anything to prevent this future coming to pass, anything, just please, tell me."

"I already have, by coming here and showing you this, that future will no longer be as it was, the shadows of it remains and could, perhaps, still come to pass," the being replied sorrowfully, "I have done what I can, planted the seeds, but only you can change your fate. Your future lies within your own hands. The future is not set in stone, what has not yet come to pass may yet be stopped, but come what may, you must own up to your actions and your own part in history…or history will yet again repeat itself. Learn from your history, child, or you shall be doomed to repeat it once more!"

The Phoenix placed its hands on the miserable Gargoyle before it, both in comfort and in the final use of its power and last act of its brief life. It could not truly leave her with knowledge of this future, she had to make the decision on her own, it would remain within her subconscious surfacing at times in her dreams or a vague sense of deja-vu in her waking moments, but she could not be left with conscious memory of this incident. What remained would be enough to leave her the option of choosing a different path for herself. They would be nothing more than a vague guide, a small voice at the back of her mind urging her away from the path of self-destruction, coaxing her toward an inevitably brighter future. The Phoenix warped itself and the Gargoyle to the walls of the castle, "Sleep now, child, I pray you safe journey upon whatever road your path will lead." Its life force was quickly ebbing, the Phoenix could feel itself dying, with the last of its energy it looked into the future as far as it could, a small smile graced its face and a sigh of contentment at what it saw as it faded away into nothing, blowing on the sea breeze into the vast nothingness of death. The now powerless Phoenix Gate clattered to the stones of the wall near the unconscious second in command and slowly it too began to disintegrate and vanish from existence. The future lay in the Gargoyle's hands now, only she could now choose her road to follow.

* * *

How long she had been unconscious, she didn't know, but her mind had been filled with troubling dreams, nightmares of being the only Gargoyle left in the world and herself as the cause. Dimly she became aware of hands shaking her, attempting to wake her up and voices calling out to her. The second sluggishly forced her eyes open and dragged herself into a sitting position.

"My Rookery sister, are you all right?" the deep voice was that of one of Goliath's closest Rookery brother. A concerned look spread across his normally serious face, his golden skinned mate looking equally concerned for their leader's mate.

"What happened to you, sister?" the other one asked.

"I'll be fine," the second muttered quietly as she got to her feet, she couldn't shake the unmistakable feeling of something being wrong, "I do not know, I remember thinking I saw something off over the battlements…and then you were waking me." She looked up toward the sky slightly in shock, it was already almost dawn, more time had passed than she had originally thought, "It is nearly dawn, we should go to our places."

"But, should we not investigate this possible disturbance you saw?" the male asked.

"No, if it were a danger, it would have struck by now," the second replied, "Though you are right, it should be investigated, I will go myself." It was true, if it had been a danger, then it would have attacked the castle long ago when she had first seen it, but it did give her the perfect excuse to leave the castle, she would not trust her fate to the captain's hands. Leaping from the wall she soared down toward the sea just as the first light of dawn began to climb over the horizon. She alighted on the ground and crouched down in the shadows of the cliff just as day broke. Her muscles and skin tightened as the familiar feeling of stone sleep crept over her and her skin hardened as she turned to stone, her final thoughts before darkness taking her being of how she would return to a castle empty of humans and her clan could resume its rightful place and dwelling around Wyvern Hill.

The sun finally sank beneath the horizon, plunging the world into the darkness of night once more. Down by the shore at the foot of the cliff, the stone encasing the Gargoyle began to crack and splinter, finally coming apart in flying shards as it shattered and the second let out a roar as she awoke. Her eyes were instantly drawn up toward the castle, the smell of smoke filled her nostrils and the dull glow of dying fires still barely hanging on to life dimly lit the silhouetted stone fortress.

"It worked!" she exclaimed with joy drinking in the site for a moment before digging her talons into the stone of the cliff face and starting to climb toward her now liberated home. Despite her tentative joy she couldn't shake the feeling of something wrong, there was something in the air, a weight bearing down on her very soul itself. Looking up she couldn't see the sights she expected to see, surely her clan would be awake by now, the roars that often accompanied the awakening of Gargoyles was strangely absent and none of her brothers or sisters could be seen gliding through the air as many were accustomed to do just after they had awakened. She refused to believe what her heart feared and told her was true, they couldn't have perished, the captain had given her his word that he would keep her clan safe. Doubt still gnawed at her, she'd have to see for herself. The female Gargoyle hoisted herself up over the walls of the castle and leapt from the wall down into the courtyard. Silence filled the air around her, fires still burning amongst piles of rubble and smoke curling and wafting skyward. Not a soul, human or Gargoyle, was around to be seen. Still refusing to believe what her heart was practically shouting at her, the second entered the doorway that would take her back up to the battlements.

"Where are they?" she whispered quietly to herself. Coming up to the top of the walls surrounding the keep she called out in hopes her clan would answer, "Brothers! Sisters!" But no answering call was forthcoming. She came to a stop as her taloned foot ran into a small piece of loose stone. Her curiosity getting the best of her, the second bent down to examine the stone and gingerly picked it up, turning it over to reveal a Gargoyle's face, one of the remains of her clan! "No…" her voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper, almost unwilling to believe what her own eyes were telling her. Then, noticing as if for the first time, she beheld all of the rubble scattered near and around the walls…her clan, her family…her people, all dead, the shattered stones strewn about being all that remained of them.

All of them dead and it was all her fault, her own doing, her own scheming to save her clan leading to their destruction. The Gargoyle let out a strangled howl of anger and grief before collapsing to her knees amongst the rubble of her brothers and sisters and weeping. She cursed the captain for his treachery, for letting this happen, she cursed all the humans she could think of, living and dead…but most of all, she cursed herself, this was all her fault, the captain never would have come up with the plan or even if he did have, followed through with it without her encouragement and help in arranging it. She didn't deserve to be alive, could she but trade her own life in for that of her clan, she would gladly do so without hesitation.

How long she had lain there sobbing amongst the rubble of her clan and feeling sick with grief over her own actions, she didn't know, the sound of air rushing over wings overhead brought her back to her senses and broke her from her thoughts. A familiar shape alighted on the tower where she and her mate usually roosted during the day. "Goliath?" her sobs died in her throat, he was still alive, he had survived, but she suddenly stopped herself short before she could rush to the tower and to him, "No, I can't face him, not yet. Not now, after what I've done. He mustn't know…not yet, not ever, it would destroy him, I couldn't live with it."

Before she could make it down the stair to the courtyard though and escape, hiding in order to return again later, the second was brought up short by her mate's anguished roar that shattered the stillness of the night. She turned and looked back toward the tower, Goliath stood where she usually roosted for the day while stone, he thought that she had perished! Much as her fear was telling her that she should run, to come back to the castle later and meet with her mate and love then…there was one other small voice seemingly whispering in the back of her mind, urging her to go to him, show him that she yet lived and he was not the only one to have survived the massacre. Her indecision lasted only moments, she couldn't leave him alone like this, no, she would own up to her mistake, her part in this slaughter, at least in part and to herself alone for now, she would stay with whatever remained of her clan and face whatever consequences might come. It was the least she could do to begin trying to make things right, but this kind of treason, what could ever redeem her from this stain? She sighed quietly and doing her best to compose herself before leaping over the wall and gliding toward where she could see the old leader stooping down and examining something amongst the rubble.

"These bowstrings have been cut," the old one murmured quietly as she alighted softly on the ground behind him, "There was betrayal here." Guilt welled up once more and she briefly reconsidered her notion of flight, but her mind was made up for as the old leader turned around to face her, having felt the air currents from her passing over him, "Lass? Ye live? How can this be?" The two of them were interrupted by the clatter and squeal of old metal as the doors to the Rookery opened, followed by horrified gasps as those within saw the devastation of what was once their home lying before them. She remembered now the three young Gargoyles from the night before and the Gargoyle beast they had had with them that Goliath had sent down to the Rookery as a punishment…evidently leading to their survival of this atrocity.

"Were there any others down in the Rookery," the second asked, maintaining the briefest of hopes that more had possibly survived.

"No," the red, beaked Gargoyle replied despondently, "It was just us…and the eggs." It was a small reassurance, their clan would survive through her own offspring and those of the rest of her brothers and sisters…but it did nothing to dull the pain all of them felt.

"All of the humans are gone too," the former leader remarked, "Though I do nah see many bodies…the Vikings must have taken them captive."

Goliath landed behind them all with a massive thump, his eyes glowing white with his barely contained fury, his thirst for vengeance evident in his every action right now, it was not often that the second saw her mate get like this, "Then we will go and find them," he snarled, "We will save the humans…and we shall have our revenge!" Goliath was brought short suddenly as he finally noticed his second standing there with the others, "My, Angel of the Night?" An expression of bewildered joy at finding her alive lighting his face, yet still tainted by the sorrow of what they had all found, "But how? How can this be, how did you survive?"

She gulped quietly and guiltily avoided her mate's gaze, how could she possibly tell him of what she had done? She scrambled to hastily come up with some story before the others could notice her pause and become suspicious that she knew any more than they did, a half-truth would be the best possible answer, "I thought that I saw something, out over the battlements, just before dawn. I saw that the Vikings had returned, and that you would be being misled, you would not arrive back at the castle in time to help until it was too late. I left to warn you, hoping to find you before the two of you had gone too far…but I wasn't thinking straight…dawn caught me before I could find you, and when I awoke this night I returned…to, this." She could feel the guilt overflowing again and leading to a renewed round of tears, not only had she been the cause of this tragedy, now she was lying about it to the one person in her life who mattered most to her. She only felt worse as Goliath wrapped his wings around her and ran his large hand through her unruly shock of hair as he tried to comfort her. The sound of the old one clearing his throat brought the moment to an end.

"As stirring as this scene is and moves me old heart," he remarked, "We've work needs doing. If we are to save the humans and avenge our brothers and sisters, then we had better leave now."


	2. Stone By Night

Stone by Night

There were hours yet before dawn would finally break, time enough to find and slaughter the Vikings once and for all, avenging their fallen clan and putting their souls to rest. The second's eyes narrowed as she recognized where they were heading…the Vikings had made their camp in and around the ancient cave that Archmage had called his home after his exile from the castle. Somehow, it made some small kind of sense that these vermin would hide here in the lair of the deceased Archmage, humans could be so predictable.

The five Gargoyles let out an unearthly mixture of howls and screeches as they descended on the Vikings' camp site. The second swooped down on the panicked soldiers and seized one of them in her grasp before soaring through the air again and releasing him to plummet to his death. The sound of his bones snapping reached her ears as she alighted on the ground again and brought a small sense of satisfaction to her, the clan would be avenged this night, the Vikings would all pay dearly for each of her brothers and sisters that they had shattered. She would have blood for blood, each one of them would suffer a thousand times over before she was through with them.

The second's eyes lit with a crimson light as she snarled and hissed at the Vikings within range, raking their bodies with her talons as she grappled with those who got too close and attempted to take her on. Her surviving clansmen and herself were a whirlwind of death, even the Gargoyle beast had finally caught up with them and was partaking in his share of the slaughter. The old leader had managed to rest a sword from one of the Vikings and was engaging whatever foes came against with all the skills and knowledge that came with age. Of Goliath, there was no sign though, she had thought she'd seen him winging his way off toward the cliffs shortly after the battle began, but if he had she had no idea why, nor did she care.

Despite their terror, some of the Vikings attempted not to fight back, but to slaughter the humans that they had kidnapped from the castle. In spite of her own thoughts on the humans, the second did her best to keep the Vikings from slaughtering the former allies of the clan, it was not entirely their fault that they had failed in their duty to protect her kind, it was entirely the captain's…and she thought bitterly, her own. Her own clan was beyond saving, but she owed it to these humans for at least this one night, she could save them.

It wouldn't even come close to making up for what she had done, but nevertheless she owed them. Though if she chanced upon the captain this night, she would slay him herself; he had no place in this world any longer. His betrayal would cost him dearly. Despite their superior numbers, the second knew that she and her kin had more skill and strength by far, it would not take much to route these pigs. True to her predictions the surviving Vikings were soon turning and fleeing off into the night, completely routed and demoralized.

Her blood was up and pumping, this is what it truly meant to be alive, the thrill of the fight and the destruction of one's enemies, she breathed deep the aroma of battle, the stink of sweat, blood, and fire, she would have pursued the survivors and continued the fight all throughout the night but for the sudden weariness she felt, her clan had been avenged, but it had not brought her peace. Still, she would savor their victory while it lasted, they were alive, and their enemy was not, right now, that was all that mattered.

"You fools!" the voice of the Magus broke the newfound stillness, the white haired man glared at the five Gargoyles, the _Grimorum Arcanorum_ clutched tightly under his arm, "She'd be alive if not for you, if you hadn't come here!"

"Uh, what's he talking about?" the smallest the three youngest Gargoyles asked, his green face taking on a bemused expression.

"The human has obviously damaged his brains," the second remarked scornfully, waving her hand dismissively, "Ignore him."

"They would have ransomed us both," the Magus continued angrily, ignoring the Gargoyles and their conversation and focusing on the _Grimorum_, frantically searching through its pages his face distorted with an almost deranged expression, "But you invaded their camp, and now-"

"What's all this?" the old leader interrupted, hurrying forward to the developing confrontation, "Where's the princess?"

"Dead!" the Magus shouted at them angrily, "And it's all your doing. Could I but wield a sword I would send you all to join her! But this will have to do instead." The magician planted his finger firmly on one of the pages, his eyes glimmering with delight at what would be the fate of the Gargoyles who had inadvertently destroyed the life of Princess Katharine. The second tensed, preparing herself to leap at the distraught human. She recognized the _Grimorum Arcanorum_ for what it was, the Archmage himself had possessed it before and she had seen him use it a great many times whilst still serving as his apprentice, the magics it wrought almost always harmful, and she would never let herself be subjected to them.

Before she could make her move however the Magus had begun reading from the page and the swirling energies of the spell being cast through the book blocked her way and kept her in place. "Dormiatus dum castellum super nubes ascendat!" The words the Magus read off sent chills running up and down her spine, she had never learned to understand much Latin, but these words she could understand well enough, and the thought of what they would do terrified her. The Magus was basically killing them! The meaning, "_may you sleep until the castle rises above the clouds_", was as good as a death sentence, while not physically slaying them, until the terms and conditions of the spell were met, the five them would slumber in stone sleep…but the castle rising above the clouds? It was impossible, and even if it were not and could eventually be done, they would be shattered long before that could ever come to pass.

The second's thoughts turned to her mate as the spell began to take its hold on her, an oppressive weight spreading throughout her body as she slowly turned to stone as drowsiness and sleep began to overtake her…never again would she see Goliath, the thought was too much to bear, one silent tear slipped from her eyes as the spell completed…leaving the five once living Gargoyles in stone sleep for all of eternity.

* * *

Beneath him Goliath saw three figures running towards the cliff, one of them was unmistakably the human princess, and one of her pursuers was no doubt the leader of these Vikings, Hakon. The leader of the Gargoyle clan let loose a low growl, the other survivors could handle the rest of the Vikings for the moment…his business lay with these three.

He would rescue Princess Katharine, and then he would have his vengeance. Against all hope his, his Angel of the Night had survived, but that was a cold comfort against the deaths of all the rest of his rookery brothers and sisters and their spilled blood crying to him for vengeance, to slay their murders and put the spirits of his kin to rest. He slammed into a hard landing on the ground behind the three humans assuming a battle stance and preparing to deal with them…he was brought short as they all three whirled to face him. Not for any fear or hesitation, but from sheer shock, the third human was none other than the captain of the guard of Castle Wyvern.

"You? You were the betrayer?" he shouted angrily at the human, he had once regarded the captain as a friend, a loyal comrade in arms…the betrayal stinging all the more now, his fury taking a hold of his mind and pushing all else aside.

"It was nah supposed ta be this way," the captain protested in fear, he knew he was damned the minute Goliath worked past his initial shock and laid hands on him.

"All of my kind are dead," Goliath roared, his eyes flashing white in the darkness and bearing his fangs and clenching and unclenching his fists, "And now, now you two will join them!"

"I told ye to take the other Gargoyles with ye!" the captain protested, growing more desperate in his bid to hold off the enraged Gargoyle and possibly talk him down, "If ye'd only listened none of us would be here now!"

The Viking leader looked fearfully between the leader of the Gargoyle clan he had just shattered and his partner in crime, the one who had betrayed the castle into his hands and who he had intimidated into submission in order to smash all of the Gargoyles. He hit upon a possible solution, "He's the one!" he shouted frantically pointing at the captain and attempting to force all of the blame there, "He's the one who shattered them all. It's him you want!"

Before Goliath could do anything further the captain leapt at the Viking, "Why you lying scum!", his voice bristled with anger and fury at the accusation. The two of them grappled with each other, each attempting to seize control over Hakon's sword and slay the other. There was a slight rumble and suddenly ground beneath the three humans, the captain, Hakon, and the princess, gave way and sent each of them tumbling over the edge of the cliff toward the angry surf breaking over the rocks at the bottom of the cliff below them. Goliath was shocked to his sense by the sight of the princess tumbling over the edge and toward her death below, lunging forward onto his stomach the large Gargoyle seized hold of the ropes binding the young human and hauled her up onto firm ground once more.

With one quick yank the ropes binding the princess were snapped and his eyes were drawn down to the bottom of the cliff once more, the treacherous captain and the leader of the Vikings had already vanished from sight, drawn beneath the waves of the see and never to be seen again. His chance at vengeance had slipped his grasp, the traitor and the murder or his people were both dead…but not by his own hand, it was not the same, somehow the victory felt hollow.

"Goliath," the princess remarked sadly, bending down by the leader of the Gargoyles, she had no idea what to say, what comfort could she possibly give to a Gargoyle? The two species, human and Gargoyle were like enough, but so many differences, what could she possibly say to express her sympathies, it was not her people who had been massacred and destroyed, "I-"

The two of them were interrupted by a young boy calling out, "Goliath, you've got to help your friends, please, come quickly!" He recognized the lad as one of the refugees that had recently arrived at the castle, and the boy from the other night who had tried to befriend the three young gargoyles had sent down to the Rookery. Whatever it was obviously something desperate. Without a moment's further thought the leader of the Gargoyles raced after the boy back toward the camp of the Vikings. Hundreds of horrible scenarios ran through his mind as he followed, but none were as awful as the sight that beheld him upon reaching the others. All five of them, his mate, his mentor the old leader, the three rookery brothers, and the lone Gargoyle beast that had survived; all five of them frozen in stone sleep though the dawn was yet hours from arriving. How could this be?

"Stone? By night?" he reached gingerly toward the face of his Angel of the Night, now frozen in stone and unmoving, cold to the touch, "What sorcery is this?" He demanded angrily, though he knew not who he was speaking to.

Silent footsteps approached behind and the familiar voice of the Magus addressed him coldly, "Sorcery indeed. And now you too shall join them." Goliath turned to see the man facing him, his face set in grim determination as he prepared to read off his spell from the _Grimorum_. He was frozen in shock, how could the magician do this to them? What had they done to deserve this? Had he been in on the betrayal as well? The Magus was stopped short as Princess Katharine stepped out quietly from behind the Gargoyle and took a hesitant step toward the statues that had moments ago been six living, breathing beings. "Princess?" his voice was quiet, almost remorseful as he comprehended what he had just done, and been about to do once more.

"Oh, Magus," Katharine whispered mournfully, turning from the stone Gargoyles to her friend, "What have ye done?"

The book fell heavily from the Magus hands as collapsed to his knees before the opened book, "I-I-I I thought you dead, your highness," he stammered, the full weight of his actions hitting him full force, what he had just done was unspeakable, "I-I was mad with grief. I thought to avenge your death in the only way I knew how…"

Goliath stomped forward and dragged the miserable magician up into the air by the front of his robes and held him aloft, "Reverse the spell!" he shouted shaking the startled Magus briefly, gesturing at his fellow Gargoyles, "Bring them back!"

"I cannot," the Magus protested in fright, "the page with the counter spell was destroyed by Hakon."

Goliath dropped the human on top of his book lying open on the ground, "Then I am truly alone…"

"Ye turned them ta stone forever?" Katharine asked weakly, helping the magus to his feet from where Goliath had dropped him.

"The terms of the spell were that they would sleep until Caster Wyvern rises above the clouds," the Magus replied, "They may as well be forever stone…the condition is impossible to be met." Goliath bowed his head, closing his eyes and exhaling bitterly, the Magus was right, what hope was there of ever resurrecting his sleeping kin, the condition could never be met, not even in a thousand years. He was truly the last of his clan…he was truly alone.

"Goliath, what will ye do now? Where will ye go?" Katharine asked, placing a hand on the large Gargoyle's shoulder, "If there is anythin' we can do, anythin' at all, ye have but to name it."

What could he do? His clan was all gone, all but lost to him for all eternity, the only thing left were the eggs within the Rookery, but he could scarcely care for 36 hatchlings all on his own, there had to be a solution, "Help me move what remains of my clan back to the castle…once we're there, there is one last favor you can do for me."

"Ye have but to name it," Katharine promised solemnly, "After the wrong we've done ye and all tha's happened this night, it is the least we can do."

"The eggs in the Rookery, my clan's children, all that remains of them," Goliath gazed forlornly once more at his mate and the others the Magus had cursed, "They will be hatching soon. They will need both protection and guidance…something I cannot offer them. And then, Magus, there is one last favor you can do me…cast your spell one last time."

"It will be done, Goliath," the Magus acknowledged, "We will look after your children as if they were our own." The Gargoyle nodded once and then turned to help the rescued humans to gingerly and carefully place the statues his clan had become into the carts, the road to Castle Wyvern was not a long one, but it would be too close to sun-up by the time they got there, speed was of the essence, soon, he would be united with the other survivors in what would be an eternal sleep, only time could decide their fate.

**Author's Note:** _Well, next chapter will be the time skip up to 1994 and now the fic can really get going :D_


	3. Awakening

Chapter III

Awakening

The years wore on, parts of the castle were slowly worn away by age and time or simply fell apart with age or damage from the battle…all feel into disrepair and deteriorated with age, all save seven stone statue placed atop the tallest tower of the castle, unchanged since the day the Gargoyles had been frozen in stone.

1,000 years had passed since that awful night, humans had long ago abandoned the place and avoided it as much as they could, something just felt eerie about the whole ruin, many claimed that it was haunted, even fewer claimed that the old legends about the place were true and that Gargoyles had dwelt there once upon a time, and even now awaited the time of their reawakening. Even the animals seemed to have deserted the place after its fall in 994 AD, the only signs of any kind of life were the plants that had overgrown the once great fortress.

This day however, was different, some time ago an American man had come into the region inquiring in the nearby town about the old castle and who might be the owner. And now, here he was standing before the castle itself. The wind coming off from the sea whipped his dark coat about him as he stood before the ruined gates and walls studying the castle. No one knew what his interest in the castle was, but they had pointed him in the right direction nonetheless, if he wanted to risk his own life with the ghosts and spirits infesting the place, who were they to stop?

"At last, Castle Wyvern," he remarked, looking up and focusing on the stone statues perched atop the main tower. After a short moment of study he raced into the courtyard, leaping over the scattered rubble, and heading up the stairs toward his destination. He stopped at the parapet next to the lone statue, pulling the vines from it and admiring the handiwork, "Magnificent. Make the offer now, Owen, this instant!"

"May I say one last time, Mr. Xanatos, that the cost of this venture will be astronomical," his right hand man remarked as he stepped out from the stairwell to the top of the tower as well.

"Never mind that, Owen," Xanatos remarked somewhat dismissively, "I've got more money than I know what to do with. Start hiring crews immediately, I want to begin this as soon as possible."

"Of course, sir, but it may prove difficult to find the necessary manpower required. This castle has been known for it bad reputation, as you already know, the locals consider this place to be haunted," Owen replied, pulling his cellphone from his pocket in order to begin the necessary arrangements. Once David Xanatos set his mind on something, he almost always got what he wanted, no use in arguing the matter, though that was not to say that his employer did not value whatever advice Owen Burnett was able to give.

"Well, you know the answer to that, Owen," Xanatos smirked, "Pay a man enough and he'll walk barefoot into Hell. Make sure to save any and all remains of the statues that you can find, you never know when they might wind up being useful."

The work began immediately, the castle taken apart brick by brick and block by block, the pieces being ferried over across the sea to Xanatos' home in Manhattan and the headquarters of his business, the Eyrie Building. After months, the castle was finally ready, not only had it been fully restored to its former glory, it had been upgraded with every conceivable modern comfort. All was finally ready for tonight, Xanatos watched anxiously as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon, he'd know soon if it had all been worth it.

"Don't disappoint me," he remarked, turning his gaze to the Gargoyle, almost holding his breath in anticipation. Dark storm clouds appeared as if from nowhere as the sun finally vanished from sight, lightning flickered all around, illuminating the night with its flashes, rain beginning to fall in a thick drizzle. Just when it seemed like nothing would happen at all, Xanatos became aware of the sounds of splintering stone, "Yes, it all worked. Excellent." He watched as the cracks on the statue gave off a blue light, spreading over its entirety until finally the Gargoyle within the stone moved, shattering the stone covering and letting out a might roar as it stretched. The stories were all true, though he'd had no reason to doubt that, he'd seen some of the _Grimorum Arcanorum_ could do first hand, and it was from there that he'd read the tale of Goliath and his clan.

* * *

Awareness slowly returned, passage into dreaming as if waking from the even deeper sleep of oblivion, a return from death. Against all odds the Second suddenly found herself awake, letting loose a triumphant roar to greet the night as she forced the stone encasing her apart and sent the shards flying in every direction, taking her first breath of freedom in who knew how long. Around her the stone forms of her kin slowly awakened as well, their joined roars breaking the stillness of the night.

They were alive again, the spell was broken! The only question was how. Her mind drifted back to her final moments before the spell cast by the Magus had taken them all…the condition place on the spell had been when Castle Wyvern rose above the clouds, a notion that was utterly impossible, the only other possible options were that the spell had been undone by the counter spell in the _Grimorum_. Though the Second considered that option unlikely, she had seen the state the book was in when the Magus cursed them, many pages had been torn out or otherwise damaged…no, it couldn't have been the counter spell. Which left the only other option, that a sorcerer or magician more powerful than even the Archmage had brought the power that they possessed against the curse and had brought an end to it.

The Second had never been much of a sorceress, despite her innate talent for magics, and despite being the apprentice of the Archmage, he had never taught her much beyond reading and writing and the very basics of magic, he had always mistreated her, viewing her as little more than a savage, a beast, to be used to fulfill his own ends. Her teeth clenched slight in fury at the old memories, she had not mourned when the cruel old wizard had met his death after attempting to assassinate Prince Malcolm, the father of Princess Katharine, and she did not mourn him now, bad memories is all it was now. She shook the falling rain out of her eyes as she took in her surroundings. They were all upon the castle again, how had they gotten there? It didn't matter, they were all awake and together again…what was left of the clan at least.

Goliath alighting behind them interrupted any further brooding or retrospection, "We're awake, we're alive!" he exclaimed joyously, placing his hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes, "We are together again."

"What is left of us, my love," she sighed bitterly turning her head, "What is left of us…" The joyous reunion amongst the clan was interrupted by a loud gasp from one of the young Gargoyles, he had stopped his play with the Gargoyle beast and was staring out over the walls in shock. All of the others were equally poor at containing their great shock at the sight that lay before them. Lights covered the ground as far as their eyes could see, like thousands of tiny jewels light up the night, but most shocking of all were the towers.

All over the expanse they could see were massive buildings, far taller than anything they had seen before being placed under the Magus' spell. It was astonishingly beautiful, but at the same time terrifying…so much had changed, just how long had they been sleeping? How could city of such immense size possibly be built, the Second was convinced that not even ancient Atlantis itself could rival this. The Gargoyle beast let out a low growl, turning toward the doorway in the wall of the tower behind them.

A man in dark clothing stepped out of the shadows, obviously some kind of noble to this new world, or even possibly a king, that much was obvious, the man radiated power and confidence. She let out a low growl, she assumed this human was responsible for lifting the spell, she supposed she should be grateful for that much, but he was still a human and they had never had the best of track records in their relationships with Gargoyles.

"Are you the one they call Goliath?" he asked, studying her mate intently.

"Yeesss," Goliath responded hesitantly, he was obviously suspicious of this human as well, the man's confidence and self-assurance was off-putting, this was one that would require watching.

"Excellent, if you'd come with me please?" the man responded cordially and beckoned them in doors, "I believe that there is much that we need to discuss."

* * *

The oldest of the trio of young Gargoyles, well, it wasn't really fair to call himself the oldest, his two rookery brothers were the same ages as himself, but he usually took the part of leader in all their antics, and was frequently considered the closest to mature out of the three of them, was glad of the fire burning in the fireplace of what had once been the Great Hall of the castle, it would help them all to dry out. He shook the excess water from the leathery surface of his wings and shook his white mane of hair, attempting to throw out the excess water there as well.

"How long has it been?" their leader's mate demanded of the man who had identified himself as David Xanatos, "How long have we slept?" He nodded slightly, a good question to start off with, obviously it had been some time as the world all around them had completely and totally changed, good to figure out the basics before jumping all out into the mysteries of this new world and all it had to offer.

Xanatos stood up straight from where he had been leaning against the wall by the fireplace, uncrossing his arms as he did so, "This may come as a bit of a shock to all of you, but it's been about a thousand years since the spell was cast and you were put to sleep." A thousand years? Well no wonder the world had changed so much, but he hadn't expected so much drastic change in a thousand years…it all had to be sorcery, some of the things they'd seen so far were just too impossible to believe. Like all of the lights within the castle, light being provided without fire or the sun, how could it possibly work otherwise? "But never mind that," Xanatos continued over all the exclamations of surprise and the stunned silences, "I'm sure you all have questions, and I'll do my best to answer them."

"How did ye manage ta break th' spell?" the old leader asked.

The Second interrupted before Xanatos himself could answer, she seemed to be annoyed by the human being the one running the show, "The spell would be broken once the castle had risen above the clouds," she changed her tone slightly to a less condescending one and feigned curiosity…there was the good reason that Goliath had chosen her as his Second the young Gargoyle though, "I must admit, I am curious how you did that, and why you would even do such a thing in the first place. I have yet to meet a human acting purely out of a desire to help or the supposed _goodness_ of their heart, there is _always_ something they wish in return, some price, hidden or otherwise."

If Xanatos was at all put out by Goliath's mate interrupting him and attempting to steal the show as well as blatantly accusing him of attempting to use their clan, he didn't let on to that fact, "Well to be quite honest I was curious. The man you knew who called himself the Magus wrote it all down in the _Grimorum Arcanorum_, something that came into my possession a short time ago. His story fascinated me, I had to know whether it was true or not."

"What of the eggs that were in the Rookery?" Goliath finally spoke up, "What became of them, did the Magus say anything of our children?"

"Gone I'm afraid," Xanatos answered, his tone becoming sad as he looked at them sympathetically, "And I certainly looked, the prospect of live Gargoyles who could possibly tell me more about your race and the story of your clan would have been well worth the price. But I haven't heard anything about any other living Gargoyles anywhere in the world. All you standing here are the last of your kind."

"What is to become of us now?" Goliath demanded his eyes narrowing and his voice taking on the faintest hint of a growl, "Are we to be nothing more than prisoners? Curiosities to be poked and prodded and interrogated in order to satisfy your curiosities, or pets to be kept for your own amusement?"

The beaked Gargoyle had to agree with his leader, what could this Xanatos guy possibly want with them? He couldn't have just been curious, as Goliath's mate had pointed out, there had been almost no humans in the history of their clan and the known history of their race that hadn't been friendly to them without expecting something in return.

"I know you've had bad experiences with my kind before, but I assure, I don't mean any harm to any of you," Xanatos replied, "This is as much your home as it is mine, as far I'm concerned you are my honored guests and come and go as you please and do what you wish. But you will need someone to teach you about this new world, a thousand years is a long time to be out of the loop. So much has changed in all that time, this isn't the Middle Ages anymore. There is much that I can offer to you."

A strange sound, somewhere between a buzz and a loud series of continuous thumps resounding through the air, interrupted any further discussion or questions about what Xanatos could possible offer to them. "Well that's odd, I'm not expecting anyone," Xanatos had come forward off the dais where he had been standing the whole time and looked up toward the windows with a puzzled expression before turning back to the Gargoyles, "You should probably stay here, it would be best if no other humans saw you or discovered you." He vanished through the exit and out of sight. All of the Gargoyles looked at each other a moment before they quietly followed their host toward the courtyard.

The small group huddled in the doorway to the Great Hall, looking into the courtyard where they could see Xanatos surrounded by eight other humans, each holding a strange sort of weapon. A strange machine, or possibly armored creature, hovered in the background and was the source of the noise that they had all heard.

"What's goin' on here? Who are these people?" the red Gargoyle wondered aloud, even though he knew of course that his clan mates were probably as clueless as he was about all this.

"All we need to know is that they're a threat to the castle!" the old mentor exclaimed, "Come on!"

* * *

The six Gargoyles and their beast charged out in the courtyard, all snarling and growling, this castle was their home, and aside from each other, it was all they had left. The humans were initially shocked by the appearance of the seven creatures, but quickly regained their composure. The Second grabbed the nearest human as he leveled some type of weapon at her, spinning and throwing him toward his nearby companions. Goliath had jumped into the midst of the enemy soldiers, landing in a crouch and lashing at them with his tail as he spun into an upright position. The humans suddenly began firing their weapons, the loud chatter of the weapons filling the whole courtyard.

She lashed out at her nearest opponent with her claws, the talons missed gutting the man but the Second's attack managed to send the man sprawling and knocked his weapon from his hands. Pinning the human to the ground with her foot, she gingerly picked up the fallen weapon and took a moment to examine it.

Firing off an experimental shot she nodded with satisfaction, there was a great deal of kick to this weapon, but she could manage. Turning her attention back to the human beneath her foot she regarded him with narrowed eyes, much as she wanted to kill this man, she thought better of it, drawing the his knife and lifting him against the wall, forcing the knife into the cracks between the stones and leaving him hanging there by his clothing. They would need someone to gain information from when this was over, and she didn't trust their mysterious new benefactor.

Lifting her new weapon, she rejoined the battle, one of the humans was atop the battlements and looked as if he was about to throw some sort of round object down at her brothers. The Second pointed her weapon at him and began firing, the majority of her shots were well off the mark, but she managed to get one lucky hit in. The projectile these weapons fired striking him in the shoulder and sending him staggering backward with a cry of pain…which turned into a scream as he inadvertently stumbled over the wall, falling to city far below. A feral grin spread across her face as she looked down at the weapon once more, this age was going to be interesting indeed, one thing she had to give the humans credit for, they certainly knew how to make effective machines.

She could see that the others had their opponents well under control, the Second's eyes narrowed as she noticed one of the humans slipping away and into the castle. That could not be allowed! She had had enough of the humans this night. Pounding after the man on all fours, the Second entered the castle, she could hear the human up ahead, he didn't think he had been followed and was less cautious than he should have been.

The opportunity was perfect for an ambush. There was a sound like crackling static and then the smell of something burning. Rounding the corner the female Gargoyle found herself before a door, it looked to lead into some sort of lab, from what she could see of the inside. Her prey was in there, just snapping the latches shut on some sort of case. She crept toward him quietly, a simple twist of his head and she would snap his neck, or she would have if not for her tail. Its twitching bumped the contents of one of the tables next to her and alerted the human to her presence. The man staggered back in shock, clutching the case in front of him tightly as if to shield himself from her.

"Face me human, if you dare!" she snarled, letting her eyes flare a ruby red in the darkness and baring her fangs.

"S-st-stay back, demon," the man stammered, fear radiated from him like the stench of a dead body, "God, I ain't getting' paid enough for this, no one ever said _anything_ about god damned monsters." The Gargoyle lunged at him with a howl, the man just barely dodging out of the way as the Second slammed into the spot where he had just been, momentarily dazed and damaging the strange machine he had been working on.

He pounded out of the room in terror, his footsteps beginning to grow faint as the Second got back to her feet, cursing herself for her carelessness. No matter, the human wouldn't get away, she knew this castle like the back of her hand, every secret passageway, every hidden nook and cranny, the human would not escape her pursuit. She caught up with the human just as he was beginning to run out the doorway into the courtyard once more, the Second only just managed to tackle him as she leapt through the air. She landed on the man with her full weight, the two of them sent sprawling. The man found himself being hoisted into the air by the female Gargoyle and then flung against the wall of the castle, a sickening crunch accompanying the impact.

The humans had seemed to decide that they'd had enough, throwing cylindrical objects at all of the Gargoyles that let loose a thick, choking smoke. The Second wheezed and coughed as she tried to get out of the artificial fog, only to be momentarily blinded by a bright flash as an orb of light shot into the sky and what these humans had ridden in on returned to extract them. By the time any of the clan were on their feet again, the invaders were long gone. The seven of them gathered behind Xanatos near the edge of one of the walls as the invaders finally vanished from sight.

"Ugh, I've never seen weapons like those before," the leader of the trio panted, "O-or that flying creature that carried them off."

"Sorcery, obviously, and no doubt a dragon," the old one muttered. The Second snorted in mild amusement and rolled her eyes in contempt.

"It wasn't a dragon," the smallest of the three rookery brothers corrected, "It was a, a machine of some sort."

"And these are not sorcery," the Second pulled the human weapon she had taken during the fight from her back where it had been hanging by its strap, "These are some sort of mundane invention, some kind of evolution from the crossbow I'm sure."

Xanatos turned to face them again now, "Thank you. Without you here, who knows what those thugs might have done."

Goliath growled slight as he shot back, "Someone I once trusted said the same thing to me…and then he helped to destroy my whole clan." The Second hung her head and looked away from her mate as the memories of what he was referring to all came flooding to the forefront of her mind once more. She should be included in that, it was as much her fault as the captain of the guard's, she rightfully deserved whatever anger or indignation her mate and the rest of them might feel towards her…but how could she tell them? It would destroy her, Goliath was all she had left now.

With the exception of the old leader she had never been very close to the other survivors, and all the rest of the clan was destroyed. Including their unborn children it now seemed as well…even had they survived after the massacre, they would be long dead by now, no Gargoyle could live that long, even the lifespan of their species surpassed that of the human's by a great deal. It didn't even bear thinking about, she could never tell the others, she alone would have to bear this and suffer through the weight of her guilt.

"Hmm, well I can that I'll have to work hard to earn your trust," Xanatos remarked casually as he dialed on his cell phone, "Owen, we'll need a clean-up crew outside." The second placed a hand on her mate's shoulder, attempt to sooth him as he growled at the man. It would seem she wasn't the only one with suspicions or slow to trust.

"Why were you attacked?" the Second asked, trying to divert the conversation to other matters, one she hoped she could probe to find out more about this Xanatos, and if he actually meant anything he said to them. "If this had anything to do with our awakening how can we be sure that it will not happen again or that you are capable of protecting us?"

"Well, the richer you are," Xanatos smirked good naturedly, "The more enemies you have, and I happen to be very rich. This place is your home as much as it is my headquarters; I hope you will all consider working with me to help keep it safe."

"I know it's your decision, lad," the old one said, "But we've nowhere else to go."

"This castle is our home, no matter where it has been taken," Goliath agreed and stated firmly, more for Xanatos' benefit than any of theirs the Second thought to herself, "We will stay here. And we are grateful to you for releasing us from the spell, but know this, Xanatos," he took several steps forward, standing to his full height and getting right in Xanatos' face, his voice a threatening growl and his teeth bared, "we will never trust humans again. If you _ever_ pose any kind of threat to me, _or_ my clan…I will not hesitate to destroy you." Goliath turned abruptly, pulling his wings in about himself with a swish, nearly smacking Xanatos in the face, and began stalking off.

The Second followed closely behind him, she knew there was no reasoning with her mate when he got like this, but much as she mistrusted Xanatos and suspected that he might be up to something, she knew that it would do no good to antagonize the man and that it would only make things worse for all of them.

"My love," she soothed, "you should not be so harsh with the human. I do not trust him either, he is as slippery as an eel, but it will do no good to overly antagonize him. At least not until we have learned more about this age we now live in. At the moment he holds the advantage over us, we are still new to this time."

Goliath sighed, stopping in his stride and coming back toward her, "What would you have me do? Surely you do not expect me to just blindly accept the man and what he claims…look where our trust of the humans got us before…"

"I know," she sighed, "But right now we can't afford to make any enemies. Maintain watch and keep an eye out, of course, but do not be overly hostile. For now we must bide our time until we find out what this Xanatos is up to or what he wants with us. It was _not_ curiosity that led him to want to break the spell…" The two of them continued in silence, content with just the other's company, it was all they needed, after each thinking they had lost the other forever on the night of Wyvern's fall so many years ago, they were together again. As they had once pledged to the other long ago, they were one, now, and forever…nothing could ever separate them again.

* * *

Xanatos stood at the window in his office looking out into the night, things hadn't exactly gone as planned. The staged attack had not exactly been a success. He'd gotten valuable, first-hand observation of the Gargoyles' combat capabilities, but he didn't have anything manipulate them into stealing the artificial intelligence data for him that Cyberbiotics had in R&D. He'd have to try and get it through some other means if he couldn't come up with a way to trick the Gargoyles and convince them into doing it. A plan started to come together, maybe he didn't need the Gargoyles to do all of the work for him, despite their bungle tonight and the loss of three of their men, he had Bruno's security team, and the Pack as well, yes, he knew where to go from here, the night wasn't a loss at all, merely a minor setback to his main goal. "Owen, get Fox on the line, and get in contact with Bruno too, there's something I need to discuss with the both of them."

"Of course, sir," Owen acknowledged, "And sir, you should know, a detective with NYPD's 23rd Precinct is downstairs in the lobby, she wishes to discuss tonight's incident."

"Of course, Owen, send her up, I'll be there momentarily."

**Author's Note:**_Well, the clan has finally awoken, and now the real fun begins. As you can tell, this story will have some fairly big differences with the show from here on out. One thing I feel I should probably mention now that I forgot earlier, this story is not going to be like a traditional fanfic, my intention is for it to be more like a TV series, meaning that there won't be any real end goal in site, like with a novel or a book. There will definitely be story arcs and plots that interconnect and build on each other as the story goes on, but I don't have any end goal or big finish to work toward. In other words, this story will basically go on indefinitely or at least until I run out of story ideas._

_And in case you can't tell, this is going to be a Goliath/Demona pairing. Sorry, Elisa fans :/ As much as I love Elisa, and the Goliath/Elisa pairing...I don't think it ever would have happened if Demona had never become evil or one of the many enemies of the clan. So yeah, this is all going to be Goliath/Demona, though have no fear. I'd never abandon Elisa or leave her out in the dark, she'll have own role to play in this story and her own moments to shine, she has not been abandoned. And speaking of Elisa, next chapter will be her introduction and the clan beginning to learn about their new home. Thanks for reading, until next time :)_


	4. Naming the Band

Chapter IV

Naming the Band

The skies around the top of the Eyrie Building, the headquarters of Xanatos Enterprises, were lit by unnatural flashes and rumbles, far too irregular and out of the ordinary to simply be lightning. One long burst of red light flashed, followed by a loud rumble and a roar like that of an explosion, moments later large chunks or rock and metal crashed into the street below. Pedestrians scattered every direction as the rain of debris continued to fall at irregular intervals.

Detective Elisa Maza brought her car to a stop as she arrived on the scene, "Maza, 23rd," she said pulling out her badge and flashing it at the other officers, allowing her through, "What's goin' on here?"

"Beats me, detective," the officer in charge shrugged, "Must be one hell of a party though." Another blast resounded as one of the largest loads of debris yet came tumbling down, striking near enough to knock Elisa off her feet and send her sprawling on the ground.

"Get back!" she shouted as some curious pedestrians got too close to the danger zone of falling rubble, and then muttering under her breath as she turned back toward the scene, "Unless you wanna wind up street pizza." One of the chunks of rock nearest her caught her eye, a set of three long gouges ran the length of the undamaged portion of the stone…they were unmistakably the marks left behind by some sort of claw. "Claw marks? What could be strong enough to leave claw marks in solid stone?"

She gazed back up toward the top of the Eyrie Tower, what could possibly be going on up there? Just _what_ had Xanatos Enterprises done. Just as suddenly as the battle, it couldn't be anything else, had started, it all died down again and the night was still once more. As still as it was possible for New York, the city that never sleeps, to ever be at least.

"What do you suppose all that was, detective?" Morgan, the officer from earlier, asked as Elisa stood from her crouch.

"I don't know," Elisa murmured quietly, before taking on a more determined tone of voice, "But I'm going to find out." She strode toward the entrance to the lobby of the headquarters for Xanatos Enterprises and approached the front desk.

"Detective Elisa Maza, NYPD," she flashed her badge in the face of the guard manning the front desk, "I need to speak to whoever's in charge here about what just happened." The security guard paused momentarily before contacting his superiors and informing them of the situation.

"One moment, ma'am," the guard replied, placing the phone back in its holder, "Mr. Burnett, Mr. Xanatos' personal aide, will be with you momentarily." Elisa nodded, looking around the atrium area. If there was one thing Xanatos sure knew how to do, it was how to be over the top. Just the lobby of this place was something else. One of the elevators behind the front desk let out a small ding and a blonde, stiff looking man with glasses strode out.

"You must be Mr. Burnett," Elisa stated, "I'm Detective Elisa Maza, I was told to expect you. If you don't mind I have a few questions to ask you…like what the hell was that just now?"

"A most unfortunate accident I'm afraid," Owen replied seriously, "One of the newly installed generators in the castle exploded. Mr. Xanatos is quite willing to pay for any and all damages that might have bee-."

"Mr. Burnett," Elisa cut him off, "I heard automatic weapons being fired up there, now, you can let me take a look around now, or I can come back later with a warrant and a whole lot more cops. It's your call."

The man smirked slightly, undoubtedly an odd expression from one normally so serious, "That was actually my intention," Owen replied, "Mr. Xanatos wishes to put any doubts of public safety to rest, he specifically instructed me to show you to the castle myself and to inform you that he would meet you personally. Now, if you would follow me please, Miss Maza, right this way."

The elevator ride up to the castle was a long one. It felt even longer with the presence of Owen Burnett, he was, in a word, stuffy. Elisa drummed her fingers on her arm impatiently as she watched the floor number climbing higher as the elevator rose. The ride was finally over and the elevator gave a small ding as the doors opened and the detective and her guide strode out into the Great Hall. Bet heating this place will get pretty expensive after a while, the heating bill would be ginormous, Elisa thought to herself. Then again, David Xanatos was one of the richest men in the whole world, _and_ had just paid the massive expenses for moving Castle Wyvern here to New York as if it was nothing.

"Ah, Detective Maza," this man coming toward them could only be David Xanatos himself. He was almost impossible to overlook, his attitude and self-assurance made sure he was the center of attention, even in his own home. "I just got off the phone with the mayor to offer my profound apologies for what happened tonight."

"What exactly _did_ happen here, Mr. Xanatos?" Elisa demanded, adding almost preemptively, "And please, don't try to feed me some cop out story about an exploding generator, I'm not an idiot."

Xanatos gestured with his arm, leading her down the length of the Great Hall toward the courtyard, "Wouldn't dream of it. Owen was a little confused, that's the story for the press. The truth is that my security team repelled an invasion by a rival corporation attempting to steal some of our new technologies we have located here."

Elisa scoffed, taking on an almost scolding tone, "Repelled an invasion? You're a private citizen, Xanatos, not a country. And that's not something that's going to be changing any time soon."

"Detective, I am the owner of a multi-national corporation," Xanatos retorted as he pressed the button to open the doors of the Great Hall and led her out into the courtyard, "One which is bigger than many _countries_ you could name."

* * *

The three youngest Gargoyles were exploring the castle. Sure, they already knew most of it in and out, since they'd lived there since they were in the egg and ever since they'd first hatched. A lot had changed in a thousand years however, and a whole lot was completely different from what it used to be. Like one thing the beaked Gargoyle had noticed was that all of the doors were operated by some sort of magic…or was it machinery? It was so hard to tell with all these new things what was magic, and what was just mundane technology created by ordinary humans.

"Haha wow, look at all this stuff, it's fantastic!" the smallest of them exclaimed, it looked like this was some sort of kitchen or something as the red Gargoyle recognized the sorts of things that he'd seen humans using to prepare their food back before the Vikings had attacked. This was one of the more boring rooms, he was sure the larger of his two rookery brothers would love it though, he was always hungry and always eating.

"Come on, let's move on," he remarked, his smaller, green companion shutting a large metal door as he walked past.

The two of them were brought around sharply as their companion shouted at them indignantly from behind the door, "Hey! Let me out, it's cold in here!"

"Don't worry, we'll save you," the small one called.

"Yeah, you push, we'll pull," the leader of the trio instructed, grabbing the handle on the door along with his brother and tugging with all his might. The door came unlatched with a click and they had just started to get it open when their oversized rookery brother came barreling into the door and sent all three of them, as well as the food he had been holding in his arms, flying in every direction. The noise the three of them made was a deafening cacophony, and the mess immense. Pots and pans spread everywhere as well as tools for cooking and all the food their brother had been carrying, some of it having also burst open and spread around the floor.

"You three!" the trio instantly shot up in fright, it was the second in command, and boy did she sound angry, "Can we not turn our backs on your for even a minute without you getting into trouble? You're worse than hatchlings! If we still had the Rookery I'd send you there, clean up this mess!" The three of them hung their heads, looking at the mess they'd inadvertently made. Even if they didn't have the Rookery anymore, the threat of being sent there was enough to shame them even more. It was one thing to be called hatchlings or be accused of acting like them, but it was another to be sent down to the Rookery, that was one of the most degrading minor punishments a fully grown Gargoyle could receive.

Further scolding was interrupted by the arrival of Xanatos, "What seems to be the problem here? If it's the mess, don't worry about it, I'll send for someone to clean it up, just try to be more careful in future. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to." The four Gargoyles trooped out of the room with the Second bringing up the rear and herding them through the door and back toward the courtyard once more.

"There is something that I need your help with doing," the Second told the trio, "One of the humans that attacked earlier attempted to steal something, I managed to stop him, he dropped the case somewhere in the courtyard…and I intend to find it."

"Uh, why are we looking for it?" the red Gargoyle asked, "Wouldn't it belong to Xanatos?"

"I do not trust Xanatos," the Second replied, "There is something more going on here, and we need to know what it is, for the safety of our clan. It is my hope that the contents of the case will tell us what their interest was and what Xanatos might be up to." The four of them spread out throughout the courtyard, tearing through the rubble and searching the areas near the doorway the Second had said the human had come from.

The leader of the trio doubted that the case would still be out here, Xanatos had told his assistant to call a clean-up crew up there, but they didn't seem to have arrived yet or shown any signs of arriving any time soon as there were still massive piles of rubble everywhere. The only thing that had changed since the battle were the two men the Gargoyles had killed being removed.

"Hey! I think I found something over here!" the largest of three called out, his teal hand pointing at a small battered object that had been buried on the edge of one of the large piles of rubble near the doorway to the Great Hall. While it was badly dented and beaten up, it was still firmly secured, it wouldn't do to open it here.

"We, uh, we should probably open it somewhere else?" the red one suggested.

"Yes," the Second nodded, "It would be smarter to go and open it where we won't be easily disturbed, somewhere Xanatos could not observe us. We'll go to the top of the tower, it's more private there, and we can't be dropped in on unexpectedly." The Second led the way, the case clutched firmly in her talons, she beckoned the trio through the door leading to the top of the tower and then silently followed behind them shutting the door and barring it behind them.

The leader of the trio looked back at hearing the door shutting and shrugged. It was a good thought, the door probably wouldn't stop anyone who wanted to get in, not with all the modern devices he'd already seen, but it would be a good delay. The case was handed off to the smallest of his brothers, "See if you can open it," the Second instructed, "You are the most experienced with human technology and devices out of the four of us." The little guy nodded and began work on it, it looked more complex than the old system of locking things that humans had used in the past, but if anyone could get it open without breaking it or damaging the contents inside, it was his rookery brother.

"I got it!" he suddenly exclaimed. The Second took the case from the younger Gargoyle and carefully set it on top of the battlements. All of the others gathered around her as she lifted the lid…only to reveal nothing. The leader of the trio's beak hung open slightly, why would someone go to so much trouble attacking the castle for just an empty case?

"Uh, why's it empty?" the teal colored brother asked, "Is it supposed to be like that?"

"No," the Second replied suspiciously with her eyes narrowed, "There should be something in here, they wouldn't go to all this trouble for nothing but an empty case."

* * *

After the case had revealed nothing, the three younger Gargoyles had decided they would spend the rest of the night exploring the city beneath them. The Second had reluctantly agreed, seeing the sense in learning about their new home, but she did not give in easily and not without ordering that three of them stay close enough that they would be able to make it back to the castle by dawn. The Second doubted that would be a problem, the dawn was still hours off.

Now it was just the Second, the old leader, and the lone beast that were left. Goliath had not been seen since he and his mate parted ways just after the attack had passed. She knew he could look after himself, but it wasn't like him to just disappear like this. Worrying about it wouldn't do any good, if he wasn't back by morning, then she would start to worry, now though, she needed to find something to do. All sitting idle did was bring up old regrets and pain, and she couldn't bear to face what she had done…no, she needed to find something, anything, to keep her mind off the past, otherwise she feared for her own sanity.

The old one had gone off somewhere with the beast, leaving her to her own ends. After a moment's thought she decided that she would snoop around the castle, perhaps find something to either put all her fears and issues with trust to rest, or what would confirm all her suspicions of Xanatos. She was slightly amazed, the castle had changed so little in all these years and its restoration not long ago, it was all just as she remembered…which didn't help her guilt at all, just brought memories that she would rather forget back to the forefront of her mind once more.

The Second wasn't sure she could live here in the castle, not if it meant a constant reminder of her own betrayal and everything she'd lost. Perhaps getting out of the castle and taking a good glide would clear her head, she had always loved flying, feeling the wind beneath her wings, the thought of it calmed her already.

Her pace was brought short as she came out onto the walls and noticed Goliath speaking with a human woman up on the battlements across the courtyard. More people had discovered them already? She let out a small growl of frustration before leaping off the wall and gliding toward where her mate was speaking with the human. At this rate the whole entire city would learn of their existence before the night was over. She landed lightly on her feet on top of the wall between the two.

"…so you're saying a thousand years ago that you and your people were betrayed by the one human you trusted?" the human was looking down thoughtfully, her hand cupping her chin, "Does anyone else know about you?"

"Only the man called Xanatos," the Second interjected, noticing with a small amount of delight how she nearly caused the human woman to jump out of her skin with fright at her sudden appearance, "He is the one responsible for bringing us here and waking us from the spell." She stood from her crouched position and hopped off the wall to stand by her mate, "Who is this human, my love?"

"This is Elisa Maza," Goliath answered, "A, de-tec-tive?" He spoke the word as if he was still unsure of it and it was still completely new.

The human pulled something out of her coat and held it up, "Second class, NYPD." She affirmed.

"Are these supposed to mean anything at all to me?" the Second asked, unimpressed with the human thus far, "And _what_, pray tell, is a detective?"

"'NYPD' is short for 'New York Police Department'," the woman looked thoughtful for a moment, searching for a way to explain it so that it'd be simpler to grasp, "We're kind of like the castle guards from your own time. We keep the peace and make sure that the laws are kept and arrest those who break the law. A detective does things the normal police can't handle all on their own, the problems that can't easily be solved. We look for evidence to prove whether someone's guilty of breaking the law or not so they can be brought to trial."

"Ach, lad, here ye are," the old leader remarked, pausing as he noticed the human, "A new friend o' yours, lad?"

"Boy I hope so" the human woman, Elisa, muttered, seemingly overwhelmed by all of this, "What do I call all of you anyway? I know he's Goliath, but what about the rest of you?" She motioned to the Second and the old one.

"Must you humans name everything?" the old one asked quizzically raising his brow in a puzzled expression, "Nothin's real to ya until ye've name it. Given it limits."

"It's not like that," Elisa protested, "It's just, well, uh…things need names. It gets really confusing otherwise."

"Does the sky need a name?" the old one pressed her, and then pointed at the thin stretch of silver that could just barely be seen glinting off in the distance, "Does the river?" The Second couldn't help but agree, they had never needed names, that was not their way, there just wasn't a point to it.

The human woman chuckled slightly and cracked a smile, "The river's called the Hudson." The old one looked stunned, glancing at Goliath and the Second for backup, only for Goliath to look back at him with a smirk. The Second just didn't know what to think, as if things weren't complicated enough already, now humans were naming the rivers, what next? The individual leaves on each tree?

"Fine," the old one sighed at last in defeat, "Then I shall be_ the Hudson_ as well." The Second tried to make herself as unobtrusive as possible, hoping to avoid the issue, "And abut you, lass?" the old one, Hudson she supposed he was now, asked, dashing all her hopes of avoiding the issue, "If I'm t' be havin' a name now, then we might as well force one on you as well."

"Misery loves company, eh?" Elisa asked, smirking at Hudson. The Second sighed, what need had she of a name? What good did it do, a name for a Gargoyle served no purpose. Might as well get it over with though, she knew the old one well enough by now that he wouldn't give up on the idea. She pondered over what would be good or suitable names. She briefly considered just using the pet name her mate had for her, but no, that wouldn't work, it didn't feel right.

What had that human last night called her? A demon? That was fitting she supposed, and not without some irony considering the implications it had in connection with what Goliath called her at times. And from what she could remember of the religion the humans around the castle had believed, demons were angels that had fallen due to their wrongs…yes, she supposed, that was fitting indeed. She too had fallen in her betrayal of the castle and clan, yes, that name would do, though not as it was. From all the Second knew or could care to remember of human naming conventions, 'demon' sounded masculine, so it would need a slight change.

"Our kind lost paradise long ago with the destruction of our clan and the betrayal of our home to the Vikings," she said quietly at last, "I shall be Demona." She hoped that the implications would be lost on the others, she didn't need them second guessing her.

"Where have the others gotten off to?" Goliath asked suddenly, "It is nearly dawn."

"I let them wander the city," Demona remarked, "I told them to stay out of sight and remain close to the castle. If they know what's good for them they should return shortly, I made sure that they would come back before dawn."

"Mhm, very well. Hudson, keep a look out for the others."

"Hudson?" the voice of the trio's leader cut in as the three of them landed around them.

"Aye, it's my name now," the older Gargoyle declared proudly and more than a little smugly too, turning to the large teal one next to him, "And what would you make of it?"

"Nothing," the younger Gargoyle assured, backing away slightly, "It's a fine name."

"Hudson? Uh, I-I I like it," the smallest one agreed, testing the name out.

Ever the practical one the beaked brother spoke up next, "We should all choose names too, names that suit our new lives here."

"Oooh?" Goliath asked, clearly amused by these proceedings, "And what might they be?" Demona did not find this nearly as amusing, the Gargoyle Way is what made them who they were, it should not be just cast aside so easily, but there was no use fighting it, it seemed, and she supposed it did make sense, there had always been some things she wished were different. One thing she had always admired about the humans was the way they cared for their young, each family claiming their children as their own and caring for them.

Their way had its own merits as well, communal raising and parentage of the hatchlings ensured that none were orphaned, children were the children of the whole clan, but still, she wished she would have been able to claim her child as her own. That wish felt all the more now that they were all gone.

"Huhm," the red one muttered, deep in thought before finally declaring, "Brooklyn, I'm Brooklyn!"

"Broadway," the large teal one declared, spreading his arms wide as if to emphasize his new name.

"Le-Lexington. Do you like it?" the small green one asked timidly.

Elisa chuckled a bit, "They're all fine name, guys, but what about him," she gestured toward the dog-like beast that had curled up at Hudson's feet and had now opened one eye at her mentioning him, "He'll need a name now too."

"Oh I got the perfect one for him," Brooklyn declared happily, moving over and crouching in front of the animal, scratching behind both of its ears, "From now on you'll be called Bronx." Bronx gave a half-hearted snort and started to walk away.

"I think he likes it," Lexington laughed. Demona glanced up at the sky, noticing the rapidly spreading light and the pink tone that the east was starting to take on, the tops of the buildings beginning to turn a bronze-gold as they reflected the light of the rising sun.

"You have to go, now," she ordered Elisa, it was a little harsher than she had intended, but this human was new, they couldn't afford to trust her yet, they could afford to trust _any_ human. She especially couldn't let any of them learn that they turned to stone during the day.

"Wait!" Elisa exclaimed, "Will I see all you guys again? I'd like to know more about you, get to know you guys" She glanced at Goliath, looking for any kind of backup or help she could get, "Look, you saved my life so I owe you. Let me help you understand this city, you need to know how it works.

Goliath sighed heavily, he wasn't quite ready to trust any human either, but he could recognize their need, and Demona found herself agreeing, they _did_ need to know much more about this new world, and it would take them too long on their own, and this human woman seemed far more trustworthy than Xanatos or his aid Owen, "If we are to defend the castle…I suppose we need to be ready for whatever's out there. Very well."

"Good. Tomorrow's my day off, I'll meet you in the afterno-"

"After dark," Demona cut in, "It must be at night."

"Why am I not surprised?" Elisa said, "Alright, we'll meet here after dark."

"No. Not here, over there," Goliath pointed off at one of the nearby buildings, "On that rooftop."

"Why there?" Elisa demanded, her tone incredulous at the amount of paranoia the older three Gargoyles had been showing all night around her.

"Why were _you_ sneaking into the castle?" Goliath demanded in return.

"A good detective trusts no one," Elisa replied.

"That's one thing we have in common, _human_," Demona snarled. She had had enough of this for one night, dawn was fast approaching and they needed to get to their perches before the sun was up. Elisa merely shrugged and turned to go, giving them a brief wave before descending the stairs that would take her to the way out.

"It would seem that much has changed from what knew in all these years," Hudson remarked as they all climbed the stairs to their roost on the tower, he was right, not even they themselves had remained unchanged after even one night, they all had names now, something no Gargoyle had ever had before. Not even Goliath had had a name, that had simply been what the humans had called him, and it simply stuck, but to his clan he had been without name like all of the rest.

"Yes, old friend," Goliath agreed, "And if we are to survive in this new world, we need to learn about it and the humans that rule here."

"We already got that one covered," Broadway declared happily, "We learned a whole lot tonight, we'll tell you all about it tomorrow when we wake up."

"Eh, it's a start," Brooklyn corrected, "There's still a whole lot we don't know yet." The seven of them climbed onto their pedestals on the wall and assumed their typical poses, this would be the first of many days they would spend sleeping in this new world, who knows what the future would hold. Despite all her doubts, Demona couldn't help a small smile as the sun rose and her body stiffened.

* * *

"Is everything set up, Owen?" Xanatos asked.

"Yes sir, the Pack have received the information on the Gargoyles as well as their instructions, and I've seen to rigging the TV set you've supplied for the Gargoyles' use so that it will _only_ show media related to the Pack," Owen replied, "And Bruno and his team are ready for tomorrow night."

"Excellent, everything is going according to plan now," Xanatos couldn't help but grin, "Get some rest, Owen, you've earned it."

"Thank you, Mr. Xanatos," Owen nodded and walked out. The next few days would certainly be interesting.

**Author's Note:** _Yes, I did the whole thing with them naming themselves early, so shoot me :P Mostly it was for the sake of my own sanity than anything else, you have no idea how hard it is trying to write a character in a story without being able to use any kind of name and only having their physical descriptions and appearance to work off of... Next chapter should be the conclusion of the Awakening mini story arc and finally getting to see the Pack, unless things run longer than I'm anticipating in regards to content for the fifth chapter.  
_


	5. Friend or Foe?

Chapter V

Friend or Foe?

Hudson slumped back into the recliner in the small room that had been set up with the moving picture box…the television he seemed to remember it being called. He heaved a contented sigh as he leaned the chair back. Goliath had gone out for the night to meet the human, Elisa Maza, and his second in command had secretly followed him. He had no idea what the three youngsters were doing, but that didn't really matter at the moment, right now he just wanted to sit back and watch some television. Such an interesting device it was…the only problem was that tonight every single channel seemed to be showing the same program. Was exceedingly odd, the night before when he'd first discovered the television there were so many different things to see and do.

"Hey! It's the Pack," Lexington exclaimed as he came into the room.

"Aye, so it is lads….on every single channel…" Hudson growled setting the remote on the arm of the chair and folding his arms across his chest petulantly.

"Hudson, I thought you liked the Pack?" Broadway asked between mouthfuls of whatever it was he'd found to eat.

"Aye, I do, but not for ho'rs on end every night with no other options, lad. Even a good thing can become too much after a while." The TV continued to run on in the background, a commercial announcing a public appearance of the Pack at Madison Square Garden catching Lexington's attention.

"Guys, it just said the Pack are making a rare public appearance tonight," he exclaimed excitedly, even if they'd only discovered the series last night when they'd been exploring, Lexington had quickly become entranced by it, "Who knows when the next one will happen, we should go see." Brooklyn looked over at Broadway who simply shrugged.

"Alright, we got nothin' better to do tonight anyway," he finally said, "let's go see the Pack." The trio bounded out of the room excitedly.

"Ah youth," Hudson remarked nostalgically as he rubbed Bronx's head, "I remember how it was when I was young." Bronx rolled over onto his back growling contentedly as Hudson moved to scratching the beast's belly.

* * *

Demona had followed after Goliath shortly after he left to go meet with Elisa, it wasn't that she completely mistrusted the human woman, but the clan had only just met her the other night…sneaking around the castle, she added to herself. Just after an attack by another group of humans. Maza might be telling the truth about herself, but it was all too coincidental to just accept her word, it always paid to be properly paranoid. Elisa Maza had just arrived and stepped out onto the roof of the building. Demona sat quietly in hiding a few moments, after making sure that the human had come alone, she decided she might as well reveal herself, it was better than sitting up on rooftops all night or trying to follow them. This way she would also get to better know their new potential ally and observe the city first-hand.

"What are you doing here?" Goliath asked, slightly shocked at seeing his mate there.

"I wanted to make sure you were in no danger," Demona replied, "There is still much we do not know yet about this city, and I do not have so much trust for the humans as you do, my love."

"Jeeze," Elisa shook her head in amused disbelief, "You guys are paranoid even for New Yorkers, hell, you're probably _the_ most paranoid people I've met. Will you be coming on tour, Demona?"

"I have nothing better to do," Demona replied dryly.

"All right, well the only question is how do I keep people from noticing you?" Elisa mused.

"Simple," Goliath replied, "We'll keep to the rooftops."

"Well that's easy for you two with those wings, but what about me?" Elisa asked. Goliath answered that question by simply scooping her up in his massive arms, each giving the other an awkward smile before looking away in embarrassment. _'Oh please,'_ Demona thought to herself with a snort, as if this wasn't already dreary enough. She knew her position in Goliath's life was stable and no one else would ever take her place, so she didn't feel jealous, but it was still nauseatingly obnoxious. "So, uh, what do you two want to see?"

"Show us everything," Demon replied, hopping up onto the guard rail around the edge of the building in preparation for leaping off, "Especially the dangers that could threaten out clan."

"Oh lighten up would you. You're starting to even bring _me_ down, and I'm a cop!" Elisa retorted. She shrunk back against Goliath's chest a little as he too jumped up onto the ledge. Demona couldn't help but wonder how humans had ever gotten to the place they were in the universe, they were such weak, timid creatures. They saw many sights, some reaffirming their belief that humanity could not be trusted, one only had to look at how they treated each other. But there were just as many positives that Elisa showed to them, the world had drastically improved for the better since their own time, both in the quality of living, and in human interaction with each other.

The highlight of the excursion in Demona's mind was when the two of them had broken up a mugging, the human couple she and Goliath had saved had run screaming in terror afterward…but such had always been human gratitude. If anything, the thousand years had made humanity soft. Some may have run from them a thousand years ago, but the majority would have at least attempted to do battle with them…in this age the reverse seemed true. The fearless humans were few and far between. The praise from Elisa had made it all the better, it had been honest, no hidden schemes or false flattery, she had meant what she said when she told them she thought the Gargoyles might have been one of the best things to happen to New York in a long time.

The park they now found themselves walking through, Central Park is what she remembered Elisa calling it, was very peaceful, despite the buildings towering above them, it vaguely reminded Demona of their own time in the Middle Ages.

"Heh, you two are probably the only couple in the park that doesn't have to worry about muggers," Elisa joked as she observed the two Gargoyles walking together. If it hadn't been obvious that they were a couple the night before, it sure was now. One only had to look at them to know that only death could ever really separate them and even that, only for a time.

"This world is just as savage as the one I remember," Demona remarked sadly, despite its beauties and the good she had seen on this night, the bad far outweighed it, some humans couldn't even live together in their own homes and with their own families without turning on each other.

"Demona, you're judging it the way the humans have judged your kind before," Elisa reprimanded mildly, "The city shows an ugly face sometimes, sure, but that's just the surface, there's so much more to it than that. There's beauty here, families that care very much about each other, people who look out for each other, sometimes helping total strangers, even though they're someone they'll probably never see again. You can't just look at the ugly part and decide that's the whole picture, you have to look at all of it. Don't you think that even if there's just that little bit of good it's worth cherishing?"

Demona pondered what the human had just said, she supposed it was true, she was being a bit unfair…not even Gargoyles were perfect, her thoughts drifted back to before the destruction, yes, even then they'd had their own problems. The clan had its share of criminals that they'd exiled, though few had been serious enough to warrant a permanent exile. All save one, he had been a particularly nasty one, he had nearly gotten Goliath's closest rookery brother and her own mate to kill each other…and all because he had coveted his brother's mate for himself.

And she bitterly looked back on her own actions, was she really any better than the humans that had lived in Castle Wyvern? It was true, Gargoyles were no better than humans, despite how much she might wish it otherwise…that being said, that fact did not require that she like or trust humans…she had seen too many that were scum, any humans she met would have to _earn_ her trust.

As if to contrast Elisa's point, and the internal conclusion that Demona herself had come to, they were at that moment attacked. The female Gargoyle hissed with fury as she recognized the humans as the very same ones that had attacked Xanatos the night before! Two nights in a row…this was not coincidence, what did they want with them? There was a muffled pop and second later Demona felt something sting her in the side, along with the pain she suddenly found herself feeling very drowsy, her limbs growing leaden…it had to be something that had been in the dart. She wouldn't be able to fight like this, and Goliath wouldn't be any match for this many humans alone while having to protect both her and the human Elisa Maza.

Goliath did his best, but the fight was brought to a quick halt after one of the humans had launched some kind of net over the Gargoyle leader, electrifying him and sending him to the ground.

"We only need one of them," the leader of the mercenary squad declared, drawing a pistol and heading toward Demona while his mean held the feebly struggling Gargoyle down, "Time to tie up loose ends."

* * *

The trio arrived just as the event was beginning to start, one of the advantages of being a Gargoyle though, Brooklyn thought to himself, was that they wouldn't ever have trouble finding seats, or a good view. They landed on one of the open beams spread all over the ceiling helping to support the weight of the roof on the building. Brooklyn wanted to see if they could get close, but he thought better of it in the end, if they got any nearer to the stage someone would be able to see them. The theatrics were pretty good, he had to admit…but the show didn't hold much interest for him, it was interesting for about the first ten minutes, but after that it got a little dull, the Pack was much better on TV.

The show finally ended, Brooklyn giving a stretch and letting out a massive yawn, "These guys are all right."

"Yeah," Lexington remarked quietly, "Hey, wouldn't it be great to meet 'em? I mean, they're warriors like we are…and we need more allies, kindred spirits, you know, people we can rely on."

"I dunno, Lex," Brooklyn hesitated, "You know what Demona said the other night, that we could out in the city as much as we wanted as long as we didn't let ourselves get seen and we didn't get into trouble.

"Yeah, but what about Elisa?" Broadway spoke up, "She knows about us. What makes her so different?"

"I...uh, well, I don't know," Brooklyn stammered, he knew they shouldn't just go reveal themselves to the Pack like this, but he couldn't come up with any good reason, "I just think we should talk to Goliath about this first…"

"Come on, Brooklyn," Lex urged, "What could be the harm? We won't tell them where we live or anything like that, we'll just go meet them. Besides, you've seen the show, you know how they fight with honor and all that, they're just like us."

Brooklyn sighed in defeat, "Alright, we'll go meet them, but not here, it's way too crowded. We should follow the Pack when they leave." The three young Gargoyles watched as the members of the Pack got into a long car and it started to drive off. Leaping off the roof, rising slightly as the wind caught beneath their wings and lifted them higher into the night, the trio began following after the car containing the members of the Pack.

* * *

"Once you're out of the way," the human laughed as he pointed the barrel of his gun in Demona's face, "We'll hunt down those other ones like you, I don't see why Mr. X wants you anyway, you should be extinct, along with the rest of your kind." Demona thrashed harder against the humans holding her down, no, she couldn't let that happen, not again. They were not losing one single Gargoyle, never again. With a roar and a sudden surge of adrenaline, she threw her captors off her arms and legs, her eyes blazing like two crimson lanterns and radiating fury. Elisa had likewise thrown off the one human who had been holding her. Demona rushed over to the prone form of her mate, attempting to tear at the thick, wire mesh that made up the net he was ensnared in, but it was no use, her talons just couldn't tear through, no matter how hard she tried.

"Demona, come on, we have to go!" Elisa exclaimed, pulling on Demona's arm. The Gargoyle looked up and noticed that the humans were getting back to their feet, "We can't help him right now, and we won't do him any good if we get caught too…you heard them, they want him alive, we're expendable to them they _will_ kill us if we stay."

"Go, my love," Goliath whispered weakly, "Elisa is right, I _know_ you will come find me, but you must go. Live, to fight another day. _GO_!" Demona grabbed Elisa and began to run, much as it pained her to. Goliath was right, staying here wouldn't do any of them any good, the humans would kill her, and then that would be the end of it. The sound of gunfire echoed behind the two fleeing females, pinging off the ground behind and around them as they ran. Demona's strength was beginning to fade once more, the initial burst of adrenaline wearing off and the exhaustion returning. Leaping off a rock the female Gargoyle attempted a short glide in order to try and conserve her energy, finally crashing into the ground as the weapon fire ceased. Elisa helped her to her feet, the Gargoyle found it a struggle to even stand, let alone stay awake

"Wh-what is wrong with me," Demona gasped, the two of them stumbling to the ground beneath a bridge. She hissed with pain, placing her hand where she'd gotten shot. It felt like some sort of dart was stuck in her side. She gingerly pulled it out and examined the tiny thing.

"Looks like this is the problem," Elisa frowned, glaring at the dart as she took it from Demona's hand and held it up to the weak light, "They pumped you full of something." She looked down at the Gargoyle's shoulder and noticed something small and obviously foreign resting just above her wing, she pulled the small tracking device off, "And this is how they found us!"

"What is that?" Demona snarled weakly, "Some form of sorcery? And how could it have gotten there?"

"You could say that I guess, this is a radio transmitter, it emits a signal that can be tracked using the right equipment," Elisa informed, "Look, there's some sort of symbol on it," the human woman indicated the strange beetle shaped insignia, "Could be a manufacturer's label, I'll have to look into it later. For now though, we need some way to throw them off our trail." Demona crouched on her hands and knees, doing her best not to pass out, a small part of her mind was clamoring that she shouldn't trust Elisa, for all she knew the human could have been the one to lead the attackers to the park and she had found that radio transmitter…but no, that was stupid, it didn't fit what little she had been able to observe of the human woman so far.

She could see Elisa messing with some dog that had been rooting through the trash that had been dropped under the bridge, and the dog running off a moment later. "There," Elisa remarked standing back up and dusting her hands off, "We'll let 'em chase Rover instead of us." She pulled Demona's arm over her shoulders again and helped her up, "Come on, let's get out of here before something else happens."

The night seemed far brighter than it should be, Demona looked blearily up at the sky and realized that it was almost dawn! "It's too late," she stated wearily, "We'll never be able to make it back to the castle before sunrise."

"Before sunrise?" Elisa asked in confusion, "What happens at sunrise?"

"Helpless, completely helpless," Demona was rambling now, whatever drug they had filled her with beginning to dull her mind now as well as her strength, "So, tired." She collapsed on her knees beneath a tree just as the sun began to peak over the horizon. Elisa looked over her shoulder, hearing a noise, and she could just barely make out the forms of the humans that had ambushed them in the dim light of dawn.

"Demona," Elisa called urgently, "We gotta move." She turned her head, letting out a shocked gasp as she was confronted by the stone form of the second in command of the Gargoyle clan, "Oh dammit." She was stuck now, she couldn't move the Gargoyle, but she couldn't just leave her here to be killed or taken by their pursuers either…

* * *

The car that the Pack had taken from Madison Square Garden stopped at some kind of warehouse, with some effort Brooklyn could make out the words "Pack Media Studios" in large letters on the top of the building…this must the Pack's headquarters or something. "Well, this is your show, Lex, you wanted to meet the Pack, so lead the way." The green Gargoyle nodded and the three of them took off for the roof of the Pack's building, the easiest way in would be through one of the sky-lights, once they found out where in the building the Pack were anyway. Brooklyn heaved an expectant sigh as they found the right spot, the room the Pack were in looked like some sort of exercise room, or maybe a training room, well, here goes nothing, hopefully the Pack wouldn't react like most humans did when they saw Gargoyles.

The noise of them slipping in must have alerted the Pack to their presence as one of them looked up toward the rafters, it sounded like it was Dingo, and called out, "Who's up there? Come on out now, nice and easy like and you won't get hurt." Broadway gave a shrug as Brooklyn looked over at him and the three of them descended quickly from their hiding spot.

"Uh, hi?" Brooklyn gave a weak wave as he tried to fill the awkward silence the appearance of the Gargoyles had made. Well, the Pack weren't running in terror, that was one thing at least, he guessed their shock though shouldn't have surprised him.

"What in the world?" Jackal exclaimed.

"Relax," Lexington tried to reassure, "We're not monsters, we aren't here to hurt you. We just wanted to meet you, we're warriors, like you." The members of the Pack looked askance at each other, Wolf leaning over and whispering something quietly to Fox, before promptly having her elbow slammed into his gut to silence him. Brooklyn narrowed his eyes, something screwy was going on here, somehow this just felt…off.

"They can talk," Wolf remarked in slight surprise, stooping down in front of Lexington, almost as if to examine the Gargoyle more closely.

"Well of course we talk, mutton-head," Brooklyn snapped indignantly, why did everyone have to think they were monsters? It was getting annoying. "You think you're the only race on the planet capable of intelligent thought?"

"Take it easy, Brooklyn," Broadway soothed, patting him on the shoulder, "This is probably the first time they've seen anything like us before."

"You have us at a disadvantage I'm afraid," Fox spoke up, "Seeing as you're familiar with the show, you should know our names…but we don't know yours."

"I'm Lexington, and this is Brooklyn and Broadway," Lexington instantly responded, "It's so exciting to meet you guys." The sense of unease Brooklyn felt was growing by the minute, part of it was the Pack, he knew that much, something about them just made him uneasy, like they weren't really who they said they were at all…but no, it was something else, why did he feel so uneasy?

Jackal suddenly spoke up, "Do you hear that?" Brooklyn listened intently, Gargoyles had keener hearing than humans, he wondered how he'd missed it and had to have Jackal point it out, it did sound like someone trying to sneak around, or rather, several someones…obviously people who didn't belong there.

"We've got company," he hissed, "And it doesn't sound like they're people who belong here." Bullets whizzed through the air as the door suddenly blew inward. "Nope, definitely not friendly!" Brooklyn dodged behind a shelf full of weights as bullets pinged and ricocheted off the contents of the shelves. The young Gargoyle took a quick peak from his poor cover, it didn't really surprise him all that much that the people were the same ones, or at least from the same faction, that had attacked the castle the other night, what did come as a surprise was their presence there. How the hell had they found them?

Unless they had a helicopter or some other flying machine, it would have been next to impossible to track them while they'd been gliding over the city. This cover was no good, it wouldn't protect long against the shooting. The shooting stopped, being replaced by a loud clang and a solid crunch as the weights that Broadway had just picked up and thrown smashed through the wall, only narrowly missing the humans and sending them jumping out of the way. The room burst into complete chaos as the Gargoyles and the Pack squared off against the attackers. "Take the Gargoyles alive if you can!" their leader ordered, "If not? Well it's no matter. Kill the Pack, we can't leave any witnesses."

There were a whole lot more of them than there had been attacking the castle, but numbers weren't a problem, there were his two rookery brothers and the five members of the Pack on his side, and they could take anything these clowns threw at them. Brooklyn lashed his tail around the legs of one of the humans, tripping him into one of his allies and causing both of the humans to go down hard. It was much easier to fight them this time than it had been in the castle, part of it was the presence of the Pack, but also Brooklyn knew what to expect now, before he and the rest of the clan had been completely bewildered and confused by this new era. Now though, he knew what to expect now, at least from these humans. With eight highly skilled fighters involved, the fight didn't last very long. Most of the humans got away, though only after several of them had been seemingly killed.

"Friends of yours?" Fox asked.

"Hardly, we don't even know these guys," Lexington exclaimed, "They first attacked us the other night, I have no idea what they want or why they're after us!"

"Hey, relax, Lex," Broadway remarked, "She's just asking us questions, I mean it's only fair, they attacked them too, and look what those thugs did to the Pack's building. Uh, sorry about the mess by the way."

"Oh it's not a problem," Wolf reassured casually, "This place gets trashed frequently enough when those fool ninjas get it into their heads to try and attack us here."

"It does sound though like you could someone to watch yer back," Dingo spoke up, "If Fox agrees and gets the ok from the boss, we might be able to help ya get rid of these guys attacking ya once and fer all."

"That's not up to us," Brooklyn cut in, "You'd have to take it up with our leader."

"Well how about this then," Fox suggested, "We'll look into the matter anyway, and if your leader decides to take us up on our offer, meet us here tomorrow night."

Brooklyn was hesitant, it didn't sound too bad he supposed, but he couldn't help feeling there was some sort of catch or trap hidden within the proposed deal, finally he decided, "All right, your plan sounds fair enough, if our leader agrees, we'll be back tomorrow." Brooklyn looked up through the skylight above them at the night sky and let out a slight gasp, it was much later than he'd thought, he turned to Lexington and Broadway, "We'd better get going, it's almost dawn." The three of them quickly climbed up and out onto the roof taking flight and heading for the Eyrie Building on the fastest wind currents they could find. The three of them came down for a landing on top of the battlements of the castle to find Hudson waiting for them there with Bronx.

"Lads, have ye seen Goliath and Demona? It's almost dawn, this isn't like them…"

"No," Brooklyn replied, throwing worried glances to Lexington and Broadway, "I'm sure they'll be safe though they're both smart, and they have Elisa with them, I trust her."

"And it's a _big_ city," Broadway reassured, "They _were_ being given a tour of it…I'm sure they just lost track of the time or something, just watch, they'll probably be back here first thing tomorrow night." Brooklyn and Hudson didn't quite share the large Gargoyle's optimism, but the matter would have to wait until tomorrow night, the sun had just begun to peak over the horizon turning the four Gargoyles into stone.

* * *

"I don't get it, Fox," Jackal remarked once the Gargoyles had vanished out of sight, "If our employer wishes for us to destroy these beasts, why did we not do it tonight?"

"Yeah," Hyena added, "What's with all the stupid cloak and dagger stuff? We should have just done the job tonight, less hassle."

"We're doing it this way because the boss wants them all taken care of at once," Fox stated, "There were only three of them here tonight, we need to wait to strike at the whole clan, and besides, the cannon fodder the boss sent to drive them into our arms gave us a good feel for how these beasts fight…insight into the best way to hunt them tomorrow night after we get the other part of the job done. You know we won't be able to simultaneously tackle three Cyberbiotics facilities all at once without them being on our side."

* * *

Goliath slowly felt his sense returning his eyes blinking rapidly as his vision came back into focus. The cool metal of thick manacles on his hands and feet and a thick strap across his chest holding him down to the table brought him fully to his senses.

"Struggling won't help you know," a slightly accented voice spoke up as a man in a white lab coat came into view, "In fact, it's rather rude of you to attempt to reject my hospitality like that before we've even met." Goliath growled with fury and pushed against the bonds holding him down and yanking at his chains, "My, my, don't you have a temper. Allow me to properly introduce myself, I am Dr. Anton Sevarius, and you, my friend, are to be my honored…_guest_. I do hope you will enjoy your stay, I can tell we are going to be _such_ good friends."

"What do you want with me?" Goliath roared, "Where am I?"

"All in good time," Sevarius replied, "All in good time." He stepped forward holding some sort of tube, Goliath had no clue what it was, but he could see the needle on the end and figured it was no good, "Well, we might as well get this out of the way now…I don't want to have to wait 24 hours for my next chance. It's such a shame that my employer couldn't get a hold of one of you earlier." Goliath roared as the needle was forced into his skin, extracting his blood and genetic material. The Gargoyle seethed, he would not stay here to be the test subject of a demented mad man, there had to be some way to escape.

After taking whatever it was he had wanted, the man had wandered off out of sight and Goliath could no longer see him. The leader of the Gargoyles took a moment to study his surroundings…no, it couldn't be! He recognized this room, as different as it was from a thousand years ago…this was the room that had been the study and sanctuary of the Archmage before his banishment from the castle. He was back in the castle; that could only mean one thing, that attack the first night, the attack tonight...only one man could be behind it all: _Xanatos_! Goliath needed a plan of escape, he had to warn his clan, had to keep them safe. His thoughts were cut off as he felt the affects of stone sleep beginning to overtake him…how could it be morning already?

Sevarius turning from his work towards the now stone Gargoyle with a slight smirk, "Well, I suppose that's one way to make sure you keep quiet and don't escape."

**Author's Note:** _Sorry that it took so long getting this chapter out guys :/ Turned out to be a really long one too, though I'm sure you all won't mind, hehe. Anyways, one more chapter until "Awakening" is completed, I must say that I'm honestly looking forward to it, probably more than you all are :P This episode is becoming a little bit of a drag to work on, and I think that played a small part in my delay :( Anyways, hopefully I'll have chapter six ready to upload really soon...I feel kind of bad leaving all of you on this quasi-cliffhanger. Well, I'm done talking now, hope you will enjoy this chapter :D_


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